Description

Use the ipsecalgs command to query and modify the IPsec protocol and
algorithms stored in /etc/inet/ipsecalgs. You can use the ipsecalgs command to do
the following:

list the currently defined IPsec protocols and algorithms

modify IPsec protocols definitions

modify IPsec algorithms definitions

Never edit the /etc/inet/ipsecalgs file manually. The valid IPsec protocols and algorithms
are described by the ISAKMP DOI. See RFC 2407. In the general sense,
a Domain of Interpretation (DOI) defines data formats, network traffic exchange types, and
conventions for naming security-relevant information such as security policies or cryptographic algorithms
and modes. For ipsecalgs, the DOI defines naming and numbering conventions for
algorithms and the protocols they belong to. These numbers are defined by the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Each algorithm belongs to a protocol. Algorithm
information includes supported key lengths, block or MAC length, and the name
of the cryptographic mechanism corresponding to that algorithm. This information is used
by the IPsec modules, ipsecesp(7P) and ipsecah(7P), to determine the authentication and encryption
algorithms that can be applied to IPsec traffic.

The following protocols are predefined:

IPSEC_PROTO_ESP

Defines the encryption algorithms (transforms) that can be used by IPsec to provide data confidentiality.

IPSEC_PROTO_AH

Defines the authentication algorithms (transforms) that can be used by IPsec to provide authentication.

The mechanism name specified by an algorithm entry must correspond to a
valid Solaris Cryptographic Framework mechanism. You can obtain the list of available
mechanisms by using the cryptoadm(1M) command.

Modifications to the protocols and algorithm by default update only the contents
of the /etc/inet/ipsecalgs configuration file. In order for the new definitions to
be used for IPsec processing, the changes must be communicated to the
kernel using the -s option. See NOTES for a description of how the
ipsecalgs configuration is synchronized with the kernel at system restart.

When invoked without arguments, ipsecalgs displays the list of mappings that are
currently defined in /etc/inet/ipsecalgs. You can obtain the corresponding kernel table of
protocols and algorithms by using the -l option.

Options

ipsecalgs supports the following options:

-a

Adds an algorithm of the protocol specified by the -P option. The algorithm name(s) are specified with the -n option. The supported key lengths and block sizes are specified with the -k, -i, and -b options.

-b

Specifies the block or MAC lengths of an algorithm, in bytes. Set more than one block length by separating the values with commas.

-e

Designates the execution mode of cryptographic requests for the specified protocol in the absence of cryptographic hardware provider. See cryptoadm(1M). exec-mode can be one of the following values:

sync

Cryptographic requests are processed synchronously in the absence of a cryptographic hardware provider. This execution mode leads to better latency when no cryptographic hardware providers are available

async

Cryptographic requests are always processed asynchronously in the absence of cryptographic hardware provider. This execution can improve the resource utilization on a multi-CPU system, but can lead to higher latency when no cryptographic hardware providers are available.

This option can be specified when defining a new protocol or to modify the execution mode of an existing protocol. By default, the sync execution mode is used in the absence of a cryptographic hardware provider.

-f

Used with the -a option to force the addition of an algorithm or protocol if an entry with the same name or number already exists.

-i

Specifies the valid key length increments in bits. This option must be used when the valid key lengths for an algorithm are specified by a range with the -k option.

-K

Specifies the default key lengths for an algorithm, in bits. If the -K option is not specified, the minimum key length will be determined as follows:

If the supported key lengths are specified by range, the default key length will be the minimum key length.

If the supported key lengths are specified by enumeration, the default key length will be the first listed key length.

-k

Specifies the supported key lengths for an algorithm, in bits. You can designate the supported key lengths by enumeration or by range.

Without the -i option, -k specifies the supported key lengths by enumeration. In this case, keylen-list consists of a list of one or more key lengths separated by commas, for example:

128,192,256

The listed key lengths need not be increasing, and the first listed key length will be used as the default key length for that algorithm unless the -K option is used.

With the -i option, -k specifies the range of supported key lengths for the algorithm. The minimum and maximum key lengths must be separated by a dash ('-') character, for example:

32-448

-l

Displays the kernel algorithm tables.

-m

Specifies the name of the cryptographic framework mechanism name corresponding to the algorithm. Cryptographic framework mechanisms are described in the cryptoadm(1M) man page.

-N

Specifies an algorithm number. The algorithm number for a protocol must be unique. IANA manages the algorithm numbers. See RFC 2407.

-n

Specifies one or more names for an algorithm. When adding an algorithm with the -a option, alg-names contains a string or a comma-separated list of strings, for example:

des-cbs,des

When used with the -r option to remove an algorithm, alg-names contains one of the valid algorithm names.

-P

Adds a protocol of the number specified by protocol-number with the name specified by the -p option. This option is also used to specify an IPsec protocol when used with the -a and the -R options. Protocol numbers are managed by the IANA. See RFC 2407.

-p

Specifies the name of the IPsec protocol.

-R

Removes and IPsec protocol from the algorithm table. The protocol can be specified by number by using the -P option or by name by using the -p option. The algorithms associated with the protocol are removed as well.

-r

Removes the mapping for an algorithm The algorithm can be specified by algorithm number using the -N option or by algorithm name using the -A option.

-s

Synchronizes the kernel with the contents of /etc/inet/ipsecalgs. The contents of /etc/inet/ipsecalgs are always updated, but new information is not passed on to the kernel unless the -s is used. See NOTES for a description of how the ipsecalgs configuration is synchronized with the kernel at system restart.

The following options allow optional parameters to be configured. These are currently
only used for combined mode algorithms, that is, algorithms that provide encryption
and authentication in a single operation.

-I

The length of the Initialization Vector (IV) in bytes. The default IV length is the same as the block length.

-M

The length of the MAC or ICV in bytes for combined mode algorithms.

-S

The number of bytes of salt needed by the algorithm. The salt needs to be provided by the key management mechanism.

-F

Algorithm flags. These influence the way in which the kernel handles security tasks, especially authentication, in the kernel. They are also used by ipseckey(1M) and ipsecconf(1M). Flags can be specified as a comma-separated list of tokens; see the example below. The following tokens are supported:

COUNTERMODE

The algorithm uses counter mode.

COMBINED

The algorithm provides encryption and authentication in the same operation.

Notes

When protocols or algorithm definitions that are removed or altered, services that
rely upon these definitions can become unavailable. For example, if the IPSEC_PROTO_ESP
protocol is removed, then IPsec cannot encrypt and decrypt packets.

Synchronization of the ipsecalgs configuration with the kernel at system startup is
provided by the following smf(5) service:

Services that are delivered disabled are delivered that way because the system
administrator must create configuration files for those services before enabling them. See
ipseckey(1M) and ike.config(4). The default policy for the policy service is to
allow all traffic to pass without IPsec protection. See ipsecconf(1M).

The correct administrative procedure is to create the configuration file for each
service, then enable each service using svcadm(1M), as shown in the following
example:

If the ipsecalgs configuration is modified, the new configuration should be resynchronized
as follows:

example# svcadm refresh ipsecalgs

Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, refreshing, and requesting
restart can be performed using svcadm(1M). A user who has been assigned
the authorization shown below can perform these actions:

This command requires sys_ip_config privilege to operate and thus can run in
the global zone and in exclusive-IP zones. All shared-IP zones share the
same available set of algorithms; however, you can use ipsecconf(1M) to set
up system policy that uses differing algorithms for various shared-IP zones. All
exclusive-IP zones have their own set of algorithms.